earthstory:One day the Earth might copy its gas-giant brothers and garner a ring system of its own.
earthstory:One day the Earth might copy its gas-giant brothers and garner a ring system of its own. The ring’s origin? Why, from our own moon, of course.The Earth and the Moon exert gravitational forces on each other, which we witness in the form of tides when oceanic boundaries meet continental terrain. However, the tides we experience travel ahead of the Moon’s position because the rate of the Earth’s rotation differs from the rate at which the Moon orbits Earth (~24 hours vs. ~27 days). In doing so, the Earth transfers rotational energy to the Moon. Consequentially, the Earth’s rotation slows (lengthening the “Earth-day”), and the energy transferred to the Moon causes its rotational energy to accelerate, pushing its orbit further away.Eventually the Moon will orbit the Earth at the same rate as which the Earth rotates. Then the Moon will only be visible over one region of the earth. Tides will no longer ebb and flow, but remain in fixed positions with respect to this configuration.Yet when the Earth’s rate of rotation slows to more than that of the Moon’s orbit, the Sun’s gravitational influence will upset their balance. The gravitational force of Earth-Sun tides will begin to pull the Moon closer to Earth again. Several billion years later, the Earth’s gravitational influence on the Moon will be so strong that it tears the Moon apart. Fragments of the Moon would then orbit Earth in a ring system, as envisioned above.Sources: http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-12311119http://www.psi.edu/epo/faq/earth_moon.htmlPhoto Credit: PSI -- source link
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